Appointment of Punjab universities vice chancellors

HEC raised objection over Punjab govt ads regarding VCs appointments
Lahore, Oct 4: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has also raised objection over the Punjab
government's advertisements regarding the eligibility criteria for the
appointment of vice chancellors (VCs) of the Government College University
(GCU), Faisalabad, and University of Engineering & Technology (UET),Taxila,
it has been learnt.

Earlier, the Governor's Secretariat had expressed
serious concerns about the advertised eligibility criteria, asking the Punjab
Higher Education Department to withdraw both the advertisements and publish new
advertisements.

It is pertinent to mention that in its recent reply to
the Governor's Secretariat over the issue, the department had claimed that the
eligibility criteria required for the appointment of VCs was rational, logical
and inline with the guidelines of the Higher Education Commission
(HEC).

According to sources, the department's claim was false as the HEC
had itself termed the advertised criteria unjustified. On Sep 19, 2009 the
Governor's Secretariat again asked the department about the advertisements while
reply in this connection is yet to be received, they added.

The
advertisements regarding posts of VCs for GCU Faisalabad and UET Taxila were
advertised on July 20, 2009 after approval of Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz
Sharif.

However, the Governor's Secretariat expressed serious concerns
over the eligibility criteria as unlike PhD degree in any subject from a reputed
university the department had advertised that candidates should have a PhD
degree preferably in Management Sciences from a reputed foreign university for
GCU Faisalabad and PhD preferably in Engineering/Management Sciences from a
reputed foreign university for UET Taxila.

According to the HEC
guidelines for the selection of vice-chancellor of a public sector university a
candidate should preferably have earned PhD degree in an academic discipline and
an outstanding academician of international stature.

The guidelines also
include that the candidate should have attained a distinguished leadership
preferably in education and academic administration and financial management,
in-depth knowledge of major issues affecting learning and teaching in higher
education, funding and technological developments and understanding of the
scholarly purposes of a university and of the economic, social and political
issues by the higher education sector nationally and internationally etc.

When contacted, HEC's Advisor Quality Assurance & Learning
Innovation Dr Riaz Hussain Qureshi confirmed that the HEC had objected over the
Punjab government's advertisements, saying the criteria for appointment of VCs
were not inline with Commission's guidelines.

He said as per the
advertisements the Punjab Higher Education Department had, in fact, restricted
the applicants.

Dr Qureshi said, according to the advertisements, those
having PhD degree from Pakistani universities were discouraged. "If we start
discouraging our own universities, who will recognize our degree abroad?" he
said, adding, "Management Sciences is basically an academic degree and does not
teach skills of management." To a question, Dr Qureshi said the HEC was also in
favour of fresh advertisements of both the posts having proper eligibility
criteria. When contacted, Punjab Higher Education secretary Ahad Khan Cheema
said the department had not received any letter from the HEC, adding, however,
the Governor's Secretariat had recently informed the department about the
letter.

He said they had submitted a detailed reply earlier, however,
they would also submit reply to the new letter soon.

He said the
criteria advertised for appointment of VCs did not bar those having PhDs from
local universities. "It states only preference would be given to those having
PhD degree from foreign university", he said.

Meanwhile a spokesman of
the Governor's Secretariat said that the Governor/Chancellor appointed Dr Shahid
Mahboob Rana, who was the only regular, senior-most professor of the university,
as acting vice chancellor of the GCU, Faisalabad, till Nov 22, 2010, for the
residue period of the term of Dr Arif Ali Zaidi, who resigned from the post of
VC of the university, before the completion of his four-year term.

Similarly, on expiry of the term of the Vice Chancellor, UET, Taxila,
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Akram Javed, was allowed to look after the work of the post
of Vice Chancellor, till further orders, he added.

He said it was the
responsibility of the Administrative Department to get the case processed for
appointment of regular VC through its Standing Search Committee well in time.
"If the Administrative Department fails to process the case, the governor
/chancellor, in exercise of the powers vested in him under the law, makes an
interim arrangement, till a regular appointment to the post, in order to give
continuity to the administrative / academic activities of the university", he
added.

Regarding salary structure of the VCs, the spokesman said a
reference was received from the HEC for revision of Pay Package of the vice
chancellors. However, in response the commission was requested to place the
matter before the Chancellors' Committee for consideration, which had earlier
decided to grant MP-II Scale to the Vice Chancellors. Till final decision by the
Chancellorsí Committee, the Pay Package of the Vice Chancellors could not be
changed, he concluded. The news

College girls make police arrest 'flirts'
Sialkot: Students of Government College for Women, Daska, on Saturday
staged a sit-in on city police station premises for an hour to protest the
release of youths who thrashed the driver of the bus the girls were traveling in
allegedly for not cooperating with them in fulfilling their 'evil' designs. The
police also tortured the driver instead of taking any action against the
suspects.

After the protest, the police reportedly took the two suspects
into custody. However, no case has been registered till the filing of this
report.

Some youths traveling in car (STT-553) started chasing students'
bus (LR-3475) soon after it left the college allegedly to tease some of the
girls. The bus driver did not give them any opportunity to fulfill their
designs.

When the bus reached Fawara Chowk, the car crossed it from
wrong side and the suspects intercepted it in middle of the road. The car riders
compelled the bus driver, Muhammad Afzal of Buddha Goraya village, to alight
from his vehicle and gave him a sound thrashing allegedly for not 'cooperating'
with them. This led to a traffic jam which lasted for around 30 minutes.

In the meantime, a Daska police team led by sub-inspector Sarwat Hakeem
also reached there and gave the driver another thrashing. The police also freed
the influential suspects and took the bus to the police station.

When
the bus reached the police station, the girls started chanting slogans against
the police for protecting the suspects and torturing the bus driver instead of
taking action against the vagabonds.

They alighted from the bus, staged
a sit-in and resorted to sloganeering, forcing the senior police officials to
negotiate with them.

Undeterred girls demanded a stern action against
the vagabonds and left the police station only after they were assured that the
suspects would be arrested soon.

The city police avoided giving any
comment. However, sources said the police have rounded up the two suspects but
did not disclose their names. Dawn